1. Field of the Invention
The present invention discloses an improvement of standard ratchet wrenches that have one joint or hinge mechanism at the head portion of the wrench. Though primarily used in ratchet wrenches, any number of different wrenches may utilize the structure. This original single hinge particular wrench embodiment is well known in ratchet wrench art and provides a useful movement of the whole handle to get around various obstructions encountered by a wrench user, while ratcheting in a restricted work environment.
2. Description of Prior Art
One patented ratchet that attempts to enhance handle movement is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,342, wherein various joints are disclosed that are integral to the wrench pawl or rotating gear. This design allows more 3-dimensional movement to the handle in tight ratcheting spaces, but still has limitations, since the handle cannot mechanically comprise another joint without becoming difficult to gain a fixed torque position.
Several hinged wrenches have been known in the prior art for many years that achieve more flexibility in the handle. A unique flexible head socket wrench is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,740, wherein a standard, hinge head ratchet comprising a single hinge is improved by adding a xe2x80x9csleevedxe2x80x9d handle portion, whereby a user may xe2x80x9ctwistxe2x80x9d the handle, and turn in and out fasteners.
Another hinge head handle is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,884, whereby a single hinge is fixed near the handle portion furthest from the head of the wrench. In all embodiments, the handle end portion is a sleeve itself and rotates on a second handle shaft xe2x80x9cspindle.xe2x80x9d It is to be clearly observed that the above wrench has a bore in the handle wherein a spring is inserted to simply xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d the handle back to a xe2x80x9cundetentedxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstraightxe2x80x9d handle position. The handle, since it possesses mating threaded ends, is then xe2x80x9cscrewed back together into one, straight fixed positionxe2x80x94not only having only one joint, and, as the previous wrenches, is far different from the application, and multi-joint structure and xe2x80x9cdetentingxe2x80x9d nature of the present invention. The above invention, though useful as a crank, has torque limitations, because of the sleeve-shaft feature.
A third ratchet wrench that includes a hinge is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,561, wherein the single hinge is located on a crank portion on the end of the handle. This wrench has the added feature of a bevel gear drive system, in addition to the fixed pawl mechanism. It enables the wrench user to wind the crank hinge handle without moving the whole entire ratchet handle and is useful tool, though it does not comprise the handle flexibility that the present invention is attempting to achieve.
From the above discussed prior art, it is evident that attempts, many successful, have been made to improve the standard ratchet wrench further by adding features and elements for greater tool use and accessibility for difficult to reach fasteners. It is an object of the present invention also to increase the flexibility of presently used wrenches, especially standard xe2x80x9chinge-headedxe2x80x9d ratchet wrenches, but also various adjustable wrenches in present use, as well. This is achieved by including more than one hinge joint within the handle body, thereby increasing moveability, compactness and a greater overall usefulness, since the handle can be fixed into any number of predetermined positions. It is another object of this invention to have this additional handle joint or joints have a solid-fixed locking or detent, semi-fixed locking capacity.
The present invention is summarize as follows: A wrench handle, preferably of a standard ratchet wrench (but also a variety of different adjustable wrenches), as those in present use, that includes at least two hinges. One hinge is located at the known useful position of the upper neck portion of the wrench body. In the present invention, however, at least one additional joint is included at the lower neck portion or near the gripping portion of the handle.
It is preferred to have this new joint or joints, hereinafter referred to as the second joint, to include a locking mechanism, preferably in either the structure of the standard mated groove and ball bearing detent structure or in combination with, or in the stead of the structure of a biasing ring. The biasing ring may be made xe2x80x9cfixed-positionxe2x80x9d locking or simply xe2x80x9csemi-fixed lockingxe2x80x9d upon the handle. The biasing ring may include additional spring-loaded capacity and, as well, may be used on the traditional neck portion also, for the same locking or biasing effect.
To anyone skilled in the art, it can be seen that many combinations of handle positions may be derived from such a structure, by combining more than one joint in a fixed or semi-fixed position to the standard wrench handles in present use to construct the unique structure of what may be herein referred to as a xe2x80x9cdouble-hingexe2x80x9d wrench handle.
The above summary is general and serves as an overview of the invention. Further features and modifications besides those summarized above will be described in the following description. It should be obvious to one skilled in the present art to see possible general modifications that may be substituted for those employed to achieve the purposes of the present invention, while not departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.